A challenging course awaits competitors at the 2001 Ontario Cyclocross Championships being held in Port Hope Sunday, November 25.

Racing starts at 11:00 a.m. with the Masters A/B/C/D and Junior Categories. Registration opens at 10:00 and closes 15 minutes before the start.

A Citizens event will start at 12:00p.m. and run 2 laps of the course. At 1:00p.m the Elite Men and all Women categories take to the course. Elite Men, Espoir Men and Elite Women must have bicycles that conform to the 2001 CCA/UCI regulations on Cyclo-cross Bikes.

Take the 401 to Port Hope Exit 464 (County Road 28/Ontario St.) South on Ontario to Hope St. Left on Hope St. to Ward St. (4 way STOP). Left on Ward St. to Elgin St. Fairgrounds

Remember that for all Senior Men, Espoir Men and Senior Women categories bikes must follow the UCI Rules on cyclocross bikes (must have drop bars and tires no wider than 35mm).

Canadian National Calendar

No, there is still no official national calendar yet, but more information is coming in. The problem is fitting in national championships around other events, and holding them in time for the Commonwealth Games (Manchester, UK - July 25 to August 4).

The current plan appears to be the following:

- Road Nationals in Edmonton on the last weekend in June.- Mountain Bike Nationals at Sun Peaks (same as 2001) July 19-21.

For the Canada Cup, there will be a Saskatchewan event in late May, Silver Star (BC) July 27-28 and the Canada Cup Final in Fernie, BC August 3-4.

We see a couple of problems with the plans for the nationals. First, the Road Nationals would be at the same time as the Mont Ste Anne World Cup. Given that mountain bike pros such as Roland Green, Ryder Hesjedal (and possibly Alison Sydor and Chrissy Redden) would like to take part, this is not going to work. Roland Green has already stated that one of his goals for 2002 is the time trial at the Commonwealth Games, and he would certainly be a strong medal contender there. Besides that, it is not going to help to publicize cycling by having two major cycling events in Canada on the same weekend!

Second, the mountain bike nationals are scheduled to take place about a week before the mountain bike races at the Commonwealth Games. Riders would have to travel from B.C. to Manchester in that time period - through 8 time zones. This means that the Commonwealth Games athletes will almost certainly miss the nationals.

Here's what we propose:

Road Nationals - July 11-14Mountain Bike Nationals - August 9-11

Road Nationals would take place just after the Grouse World Cup, and any mountain bike pros would already be in the west. Any time in June is a problem because there are conflicts with Philadelphia, Beauce and the Hewlett-Packard on the road, and with the Norba series and World Cup events off-road. This early in July is 2 weeks before Manchester for the first off-road event and time trial event. The Tour de l'Abitibi starts two days later (July 16th), so Juniors would have to head straight there, but their races are earlier in the national championships anyways.

For mountain bike nationals it is impossible to come up with a time before Manchester that will work. However, realistically, nationals will not be used to pick the team, so riders will come from a pool that have pre-qualified (from the Vail Worlds - Redden, Sydor, Green and Hesjedal), or who show the form and results in the first half of the World Cup season. This could mean that the Commonwealth Games off-road squad could be announced at the Grouse World Cup.

By moving the Mountain Bike Nationals to August, the focus will be on them. Since they will take place one week after the Durango Norba event, the riders are already on the appropriate side of the continent.

Of course, for this to work, the organizers have to facilities available at the proper times. However, no matter what decision is made, it has to be announced NOW. Teams, riders and provinces are all waiting for the national calendar so that they can make their own plans.